The Word Made Flesh: The Chicago Catholic Worker and Emergence of Lay Activism in Church. By Francis J. Sicius. (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America. 1990. Pp. xiv, 197.) Chicago Catholicism's reputation for social and ecclesiastical progressivism in period prior to Vatican Council II has generated any number of books, articles, and dissertations. This has been made possible by abundance of documentary material left by many of principals, accessibility of archdiocesan archives, and volubility of many of participants of those heady days. Into this current of scholarship has stepped Francis Sicius' study of Chicago Catholic Worker, especially House of Hospitality on Blue Island Avenue and its most prominent alumni, John Cogley, James O'Gara, and Edward Marciniak. For anyone remotely connected with any movement or organization of Chicago Catholicism's progressive cadre, this place was Camelot. In addition, Sicius demonstrates wider influence of Catholic Workers in Chicago by demonstrating linkage between their action-oriented idealism and many of movements for social and economic justice in thirties, forties, fifties, and even sixties in city. Dorothy Day's and Peter Maurin's distinctive program of social reconstruction, manifested in pages of The Catholic Worker, found a fertile field in depression-ravaged cities of America. Chicago's House of Hospitality developed after a speaking tour by Peter Maurin in 1936. The guiding light of first effort was Arthur Falls, an African-American physician and a practicing Catholic, who saw in Catholic Worker a means of bringing Catholic Church behind cause of racial justice in northern cities. But unlike Day's effort in New York, independent-minded Falls shied away from soup-kitchen/shelter aspects of work and turned Worker house into an education center on public issues and Catholic social teaching. This first effort was able to attract bright young men like John Cogley, James O'Gara, and Edward Marciniak, all of whom would eventually gather again (after stints in seminary) to form Blue Island Avenue Catholic worker house in 1938. Housed in an old factory, this enterprise more closely resembled Day's model in New York, replete with soup kitchen and shelter. With Cogley's skill, Chicago Workers were able to put out their own version of Catholic Worker and disseminated thousands of copies to workers, sympathetic parish priests, and others. Many idealistic young people volunteered to serve at House. Clerical leaders such as Reynold Hillenbrand gave it support; he even brought Dorothy Day to seminary to speak to future levites. Through power of pen and their own indefatigable idealism, Catholic Workers of Chicago gave critical public support to a host of liberal causes--improved racial relations, industrial unionism, and coordinated efforts to attack anti-Semitism of Charles Coughlin and his followers--all issues where a deliberate Catholic presence was both a surprise and warmly welcomed. The house on Blue Island Avenue did not enjoy a long life. Economic conditions improved, thereby mitigating need for shelter and soup kitchen (its most popular feature). Moreover, Dorothy Day's insistence on a pacifist stance during World War II divided Workers internally. Cogley enlisted in armed forces while Marciniak refused to cooperate or fight. The house closed its doors in 1941. Other efforts were made to resuscitate Catholic Worker presence in Chicago. But in Sicius' estimation none of them had appeal or effectiveness of house on Blue Island Avenue. In his final chapter, Sicius eulogizes movement of thirties as the model for institutional church of decades that followed. There is much to commend In this slender volume. Sicius covers an important wellspring of progressive mood of Chicago Catholicism. …